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| A Flock of Pigeons, Chinatown Plaza. Photo by Emerald A. Behrens 2015 |
There are a great number
of pigeons in the city and many more in Chinatown, especially in the
plaza. People sometimes feed them and I envy the bread birds get to
eat (I have Celiac, so no bread for me). I also see bird seed
scattered about, even though there are signs (in Chinese too) not to
feed the birds.
Once in a great while
I'll get a pigeon on my windowsill but I quickly scare them off
because they poop everywhere and there are bird mites that come in
that I have to kill.
I'm not a great fan of
pigeons, though I think they may be distantly related to mourning
doves. The pigeons are loud as they flap their wings and coo early in
the morning hours and are always roosting up top in their poop
covered nests. I'm afraid I'll get pooped on, which is inevitable.
It's a remarkable feat
just to walk down the alleyway and not scare the fifty pigeons
congregated there, or else it'll be a flurry of wings and flapping
coming right toward my face.
Pigeons are also very
dirty and since there hasn't been any rain or water, they have no
place to bathe, so nearly all the pigeons look very grimy and
oil-stained.
Due to the drought, one
pigeon I noticed in Japantown was so desperate for water, it was
sticking its head into a hose opening and for a moment I thought it
was stuck. Other pigeons are forced to drink from filthy puddles left
over from people washing the sidewalks with soap and other harmful
chemicals.
I wonder how some pigeons
can look clean enough to find a mate. Some of the pigeons I've seen
are missing toes, which makes me wonder why. A couple of pigeons I
saw had one leg merely a stump and could only limp to walk. I wonder
that if the pigeons can't bathe, they are getting some debilitating
foot/toe fungus. I also wonder about the chemicals they are exposed
to that we humans are using.
With such dire conditions
it's a wonder that the pigeons can mate at all and yet I see some,
fighting against all odds, to mate and have their young.
Male pigeons, some filthy
and some clean, pursue the females as they fan out their back tail
feathers and puff out their necks. They circle the female, some more
aggressively than others, and wait for a response. Usually, as far as
I've seen, the females ignore them. They are either not interested or
are taken by another male. As far as I know, females and male pigeons
are monogamous and mate for life. I saw one male pigeon pursue a
female until she flew up into a nest, where another male was roosting
(presumably her mate), thus ultimately rejecting the male who went in
search of another female.
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| The Lone Bird. Photo by Emerald A. Behrens 2015 |
I've only seen a couple
of cases where the male and female pigeon get along. They do a
courtship ritual where they follow each other, do a big of
neck-grooming-nuzzling up and down then circle one another until the
female sinks down and allows the male to mount her. Without this
ritual, I don't think mating can occur, the male can't force the
female to mate. It doesn't last very long though (I didn't time it)
and the female flies off, leaving the male behind unless he follows
her. I have no clue what happens after.
I assume there are
various conditions that may affect how the female accepts the male,
cleanliness being one of them. Pigeons have a natural sheen on their
necks that is purple-green in color. If they are too dirty, this part
becomes grimy. I haven't seen a male pigeon with a grimy neck
performing a mating/pursuing ritual with females, it's likely the
female would refuse him.
So maybe the males know this? So they must
have a sense of "cleanliness"? Birds are always grooming
themselves to keep their feathers clean from dirt and mites. That
being said, pigeons build their nests with poop I assume since their
nests are covered in it, so they can't be that
clean.
How
does a female know that she should mate with a male? What factors
tell her that he possesses the desirable traits of a life-long mate?
Males must find food for the female while she sits on the eggs, so
the female must guess if the male can provide for her based on his
ability to find food, which means the male must not be scrawny but
must be robust and healthy in appearance.
Pigeons
are extremely competitive for food. They will fight each other for it
and prevent others from getting food. In a group they push together,
crowing out those who can't get in. Although, from my observation, it
makes those outcasts much more bolder and tolerant of humans in order
to get their food. Pigeons as a group frighten easily but the
solitary pigeon can weigh the risks more reasonably and not startle
so easily. It is possible for the solitary pigeon to survive though
it is hard to say what their chances for mating are.
Surviving
in these unnatural elements requires the pigeons to be adaptable, so
much so that they defy their own nature. It is not normal for pigeons
to live with humans but they will tolerate a human enough for them to
approach with food, even after being scared by children running after
them time and time again.
Pigeons
roost in the domain of humans: in buildings, on bridges, ledges and
beams.
In the city there are few natural predators. Hawks are few and
far between as they need large trees in order to roost and nest. I
haven't noticed many feral cats in the city (a blessing!), or loose
dogs. The biggest threat to pigeons is their environment:
overcrowding, no water or food and disease. There are also power
lines, cars, BART electric tracks and the odd window or two, that
they break their necks on. I've seen a couple of dead pigeons with no
sign of attack. Disease, environmental pollution of chemicals and
ruined food, i.e. cigarette butts, garbage, and poison, are common
threats.
Yet,
even in this harmful and unnatural environment, pigeons continue to
live and are motivated enough to still find food, shelter and a mate.
Even the rare, good-natured human shows them kindness (usually a
homeless person) and for a short moment the different species
co-exist against all odds, peacefully.
Though
considered a nuisance to some (along with rats, cockroaches and
bats), pigeons continue to exist alongside humans through their
bird-brained knowledge, single-minded determination and lots of luck.
They don't seem to suffer any trauma (unless they've forgotten it)
and are remarkable lenient.
I
can't say that I would enjoy the life of a pigeon much, as I don't
think they have great living conditions or live very long. But I do
think I could learn a lot from them, especially how to survive in the
city, in a bad environment with lots of overcrowding, without losing
my mind.
* * *
Emerald Behrens, currently resides
in San Francisco, where she writes about social injustice,
homelessness and human frailty in general. She is a freelance writer,
poet and author of "My Private Collection". She may be
contacted at: emerarudo83 (at) gmail (dot) com.
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